This is a generalisation of "The three sages"

On a hot summer day, n equally bright philosophers, tired from all that philosophising, were napping in an orchard. A prankster came by, and painted all of their faces black with charcoal.

When the philosophers woke up, they started laughing at the others... until they suddenly realised all of their faces must be black!

How did they come to that conclusion?

the problem suggests a minimum of 3 sages ,assuming there are 4,A,B,C,D being there names (4 is for a brief note) .A starts laughing at the other 3 ,so does B and C,D.A concludes to the idea because he finds the other 3 laughing at him ,he assumes as he is laughing at their black faces they might also be having the same reason to laugh,also he might think if all the other faces are painted black why would he be an exception.

Posted by shaily on 2004-04-29 12:42:21